Bed spring



Ofzt` 16, 1934. 5l R, w ALLEN 1,977,370

BED SPRING Filed April 5, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet l :m-mg:

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INVENTOR oct. 16, 1934. y s. R. wl ALLEN 1,977,370

BED SPRING Filed April 5, 1932 2 Sheets-Shea?I 2 FIG. 2,.V FIG, 4.

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INVENTOR Patented Oct. 16, 1934 UNITED STATES- BED SPRING Stuart R. W.Allen, Westmount, Quebec, Canada, assigner, by mesne assignments, toSimmons Company, New York,

l Delaware N. Y., a corporation of Application April 5, 1932, Serial No.603,339

6 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in bed springs or bed bottoms andan object of the invention is to provide a bed bottom which will beequally comfortable for persons of light Weight and persons of heavyweight. A further object is to provide a bed bottom which will be proofagainst excessive deflection or sagging when occupied by a person ofheavy Weight but Will be comfortably yielding when occupied by a personof light weight. A still further object is to provide, in a bed bottom,means for transferring load from primary spring structure of relativelylow flexion resistance to secondary spring structure of higher flexionresistance when theV load on the primary structure exceeds apredetermined amount. Another object is to provide, in a bed bottom,primary and secondary fabric tensioning spring structures and meanswhereby the tension in a exion of the primary spring structure is limited to a predetermined amount without impairment of the comfort of thebed bottom. Still limit the load to be sustained by the primary springstructure. A further object is to provide in a bed bottom embodyingprimary and secondary spring structures of relatively loW and high exionresistances, respectively, means to transmit all load in excess of apredetermined amount to the secondary spring structure exclusively.

Various other objects and the advantages of the invention may beascertained from the following description, and the accompanyingdrawings. Bed bottoms or bed springs may be divided, according tostructural characteristics, into three main classes or types, namely,`upright coil spring structures, Woven wire fabrics and .longitudinalstrand fabrics. The latter class, to which this Vinvention particularlyapplies, includes link fabrios, cable fabrics and lband fabrics. In eachcase, the longitudinal members of the fabric are tensioned between theend rails of a frame by means of helical springs which are usuallyconnected severally to the longitudinal fabric members. Y

The disadvantage of the usual types of strand fabrics is that tensioningsprings which will comfortably and yieldingly support a person of lightjweight, will yield excessively under the weight of a heavy person andpermit the fabric to sag excessively from its normal plane. Conversely,springs which will support a heavy person Without permitting excessivedeflection of the fabric,

will hold the fabric unyieldingly under a person Y;

of light weight. It has therefore been customary to make such bedsprings ino-comfortably support persons of average weight with theresult persons below and above theaverage weight do .y

advanta es by providing a structure embodying with theframe and fabric,a plurality of series of springs and means for apportioning the loadbetween the several series of springs according to the load imposed onthe fabric, thereby to afford substantially equally yielding support topersons of all weights and to avoid substantially greater deflection ofthe strands by heavy loads than by light loads. e

More specifically, the invention comprises primary springs and secondarysprings arranged operatively in series so that-load on the lfabric istransmitted through the primary to the secondary springs and thence tothe frame end rails, and means to positivelyV limit the flexion andtension of the primary springs to a predetermined amount and totransmitto the secondary springs, springs, all load in excess of thepredetermined amount.

In a companion application Serial No. 603,338 Vexecuted and filed ofeven date herewith, the converse condition is disclosed, namely, one inwhich the primary springs exclusively are tensioned up to apredetermined amount and in which the load, when it exceeds thepredetermined amount, is divided in predetermined ratio between theprimary and secondary springs.

In general, the invention comprises the features and combinations offeatures as herein described and claimed and as illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, together with all such modifications thereof andsubstitutions therefor as fall `within thescope of the claims.

The invention is capable of realization in a great number ofembodimentsor modifications, certain only of which are herein disclosed,Wherefore it will be understood the; invention lis not confined to theembodiments herein disclosed nor to the details thereof, as variousother embodiments and modifications of detail and o1 feature combinationare contemplated.

4In the accompanying drawings which illustrate certain embodimentsselected as indicative Aof rthe scope of `the invention:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of al bed spring constructed according to theinvention and'characterized independently of the primary firstly byarrangement of the primary and secondary springs in separate rows, andsecondly by means to distribute load between any one or more of theprimary springs and all or a considerable number of the secondarysprings.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the structure shown in Fig. -1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view illustrating an arrangement similar toFigure 1, excepting that the springs are adapted for compression insteadof for elongation as in Figure 1.

Figs. 4 and 5 are fragmentary plan views showing arrangements of primaryand secondary springs in a single row, Figure 4 showing compressibleprimary springs and elongatable seoondary springs and Figure 5 showingthe reverse condition. i Y

Fig. 6 isa fragmentary plan view showing a modification of the structureillustrated lin Fig. l.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 11 designates the end railsof a bed spring and 12 the side rails holding the end rails spacedapart, the side rails being located in a plane below the plane of theend rails and connected to the end rails by the risers 13. It will beunderstood the form of frame is immaterial to this invention as long asit will support the fabric and springs in the desired tension when inuse,

Wherefore the frame may be separate from a 'fabric strands and throughthe purpose. londary springs is established through the medium of anysuitable number of load distributing bed, as shown, or may be anintegral part of a bed and may be either permanently rigid or folding.

' A mattress supporting structure is connected to and between the endrails and comprises a fabric 14, herein shown as composed oflongitudinal flat spaced bands 15 connected at intervals by transverselinks 16, and spring means ,connecting one or both ends of the fabric tothe adjacent end rails and embodying primary springs 17 and Secondarysprings 18. It will be understood the invention is not confined to theparticular form of fabric illustrated but is applicable equally to cablefabrics and link fabrics. In each of the embodiments illustrated inFigvures 1 to 3, the primary springs and secondary ,springs are arrangedin separate rows, the row of secondary springs being disposed betweenthe *end rail and the row of primary springs in Figures 1 and 2 and thereverse being the case in Figure 3. In Figures 4 and 5, the primary andsecondary springs are arranged in a single row.

In all forms (excepting that of Figure 6), the primary springs areconnected directly to the secondary springs to the end rails, the tails19 of the primary springs being of suitable lengths for this Connectionbetween primary and sec- `members'such as the bars 21 disposed in theplane of thevfabric, edgewise to the Vdirection of tension, whichmembers operate to distribute the 'load Vtransmitted by any one or moreof the lprimary springs among all the secondary springs connected to themember. As shown in Figure `1,' the bar 21 extends continuously fromside to vside of theV bed but it will be obvious that it may beef anylesser length. In the case of a double bed, use of two bars eachextending from a side to the longitudinal centre of the structure hasconsiderable advantage in that movementsA or 'weight of one person donot affect the structure supporting a co-oceupant of the bed. It will bemeans or distributing means of other forms may be substituted for thebar 21 or that such meansy may be omitted, for example by connecting theprimary and secondary springs of Figure 1 (this application) directlytogether. The secondary springs are connected directly to the end railsand indirectly to the fabric by the means now to be described.

In order that the fabric may be suitably resiliently supported underloads below a predetermined amount, Which may be termed light loads, theresilient support for such loads is afforded substantially solely by theprimary springs, the associated secondary springs being substantiallyrigid and unyielding. In order to avoid excessive fiexion of the primarysprings and deflection of the fabric by loads over the predeterminedamount, which may be termed heavy loads, which are capable of iiexingthe secondary springs, means is provided to transmit load over thepredetermined amount from the fabric directly to the secondary springs,and independently of the primary springs when the load on the fabricexceeds the predetermined amount.

This means may be separate from the primary f springs or may be inherentto the primary springs. In the embodiment shown in Figures 1 and 2, thedirect load transmitting means comprises links 22 connected with thesecondary springs and having lost motion connection or slip conl nectionwith the fabric through engagement in slots 23 in the strands 15,whereby fabric deflection and primary spring elongation is permitted upto such extent as will move the links 22 into engagement with the outerends of the slots 23.

Thus,

to the transmission of load through the links 22. -1

In the compression type of primarysprings shown in Figure 3, no specialmeans such as the links 22 is necessary, since the springs when fullycompressed provide inherent means for transmitting load to the secondarysprings without further iiexicn of the primary springs, but lost motionconnection such as the sleeves 22a of Figure 4 may be provided. In theform shown in Figure 5, the lost motion connections 22b are arranged tohave sliding engagement with the tails 19 of the pri-V mary springs 17.When the primary springs are elongated to predetermined extent, theyengage the lost motion links 22b and load is then trans mitted throughthe springs and links to the bar 21 which, it will be noted, is arrangedoutside fthe end rail 11 with the secondary springs 18 in compressionbetween the end rail and bar and supported against buckling by the corepins 24.

If the lost motionV links 22b of Figure 5 are omitted and the springs 17made sufiiciently stiff and the springs 18 sufficiently soft, a reversalo function will result by which the springs 17 directly connected to thefabric become secondary springs and the springs 18 become primarysprings. A similar reversal of function may be obtained in the structureof Figure 3 by a mere judicious proportioning of thestrengths of thesprings and may be likewise obtained in the structure of Figure 4 iflost motion links, such as 22b of Figures 5 land 6, are incorporatedwith the springs 18. In Figure 6, there is shown a reversal ofarrangement as compared with Figure l, in that the relative positions ofthe primary and secondary springs are reversed. Also the loaddistributor 2l is omitted and the associated primary and secondarysprings are connected directly to each other.

While only single rows of primary and secondary springs have been shown,it will be obvious the number of rows may be increased and appropriatelcst motion connection provided between each two adjacent rows.

Numerous modifications of construction and of relative positioning andconnection of the springs may be made, some of which will be suggestedor taught by my companion application, wherefore it will be understoodthe invention is not confined to the details of construction andarrangement shown in the drawings.

The detail operation of the various embodiments and modifications willbe obvious from the foregoing description and the drawings. In everycase load imposed on any strand or group of strands of the fabric istransmitted through the springs connected to the loaded strands to thesprings connected to the end rail. When the load on each primary springis less than a predetermined amount, only the primary springs areflexed, the associated secondary springs remain `ing not visibly flexed.If the load on the pri mary springs exceeds the predetermined amount,the primary springs are flexed to the limit determined by the lostmotion connections or 'equivalent and the load being over thepredetermined amount flexes the secondary springs slightly, so thatresiliency of support is afforded for the heavily loaded fabric whiledeflection thereof is limited to little more than that caused by a lightload. 1t will be noted that in the case of the form shown in Figure 6,the secondary springs will be bodily moved as the primary springs iieXbut without visible flexion and that, when flexion of the primarysprings is checked by the lost motion connection, the bodilyK movementof the secondary springs will cease and their flexion will commence.

It will be obvious the flexion resistance of the individual secondarysprings should be dierent as between the forms of Figures l to 5 and theform of Figure G, since the overload on any primary spring isdistributed to different numbers of secondary springs in the differentarrangements. The relative elongation resistances of the primary andsecondary springs. may be obtained in any of the ways well known tospring makers, for example, by different gauges or tempers of wire, bydifferent numbers or diameters of the helices, by the set of the springsor by any other means.

Having thus described my invention, what 1 claim iszl. A bed spring orbed bottom comprising a frame, a mattress supporting structure carriedby the frame including a fabric and spring means connecting the end ofthe fabric to the frame and comprising a rigd transverse member,secondary helical springs connected to said member and to the frame,primary helical springs con nected to said member and to the fabric andmeans adapted to limit flexion of the primary springs and to transmitload from the fabric to the secondary springs independently of theprimary springs.

2. A bed spring or bed bottom comprising a frame and a mattresssupporting structure carried by the frame and including a fabric andspring means arranged between the fabric end and adjacent frame end andtensioning the fabric, said spring means comprising primary springsconnected to the end of the fabric, secondary springs connected to theend of the frame, and means connecting said secondary springs to theprimary springs and to the fabric and operative upon predeterminedflexion of any one of said primary springs to hold sa'd primary springagainst further flexion and to transmit-additional load on the fabricdirectly to a plurality of said secondary springs.

3. A bed spring or bed bottom. comprising a frame including end railsand a mattress supporting structure tensioned between the end rails andincluding a fabric and spring means con` necting the end of the fabricto an end rail, said spring means comprising a rigid transverse member,a series of helical springs connected to the end rail and to said memberand a second series of helical springs connected to said member and tothe fabric, and means to positively limit the flexion of the springs ofthe second series individually.

4. A bed spring or bed bottom comprising a frame including end rails anda mattress supporting structure including a slotted fabric and springmeans connecting the fabric to an end rail, said spring means comprisingsecondary springs connected to the end rail, primary springs connectedto the secondary springs and to the fabric, and .links connected to thesecondary springs and having limited sliding engagement in the fabricslots thereby to limit flexion of the primary springs.

5. A bed spring or bed bottom comprising a frame including end rails anda mattress supporting structure including a fabric and spring meansconnecting the end of the fabric to an end rail, said spring meanscomprising a rigid transverse member, secondary helical springs disposedbetween and connected to an end rail and to said member, primary springsconnected to said member and to the fabric and means connected to saidmember and to the fabric having limited lost motion capacity and adaptedto limit flexion of the primary springs and to transmit load from thefabric to said member and secondary springs independently of the primarysprings.

6. A bed spring or bed bottom comprising a frame including end rails anda mattress supporting structure including a fabric formed of spacedlongitudinal strands, and spring means connecting the end of the fabricto an end rail, said spring means comprising a rigid transverse bar,primary springs each connected to one strand of the fabric and to saidbar, secondary springs connected to said bar and to an end rail, aflexion limiter for each of said primary springs operatively relatedwith the fabric strands and with said bar in suchwise as to transmitload in excess of a predetermined amount from the fabric to the bar andsecondary springs without increase of flexion of the primary springs.

S. R. W. ALLEN.

